10 Bands Influenced by ‘Alice in Wonderland’

The time has come, my little friends, to talk of other things, of Manson, Ghost, In This Moment and other rock kings and queens. Yes, today, we are taking a trip down the rabbit hole to examine the many artists who have drawn inspiration from beloved children’s book author Charles L. Dodgson, whom you better know as Lewis Carroll, the man who penned 1865's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, 1871's Through the Looking-Glass.

When Disney first adapted the Lewis Carroll classic in 1951, it was a groundbreaking film for the studio as it was the first to ever feature a heroine who did not have a love interest. Alice was an independent girl who let adventure and curiosity lead her. She solved her own problems, sometimes with the help of the friends she made along the way, and was not just another damsel in distress, waiting for a Prince to save her. She was strong, savvy, and eventually, became a queen for her own bravery, not because she married into royalty. This wasn’t only Disney’s first feminist film, but unfortunately, their last until the '90s.

The Alice-verse has drawn so many in the alternative and metal scenes to its whimsy. This is likely because the story seems to have lots of drug references. Alice’s “trip” down the rabbit hole is often thought to be a metaphor for the hallucinations that come with using psychedelics. Many of the characters, such as the Walrus, the Caterpillar, and the Dodo Bird smoke various pipes and hookahs, and at one point, Alice is even referred to as a “weed” by the talking flowers. Not to mention, Alice consumes some “magic mushrooms” at one point. While experts do not believe this was the intent of Carroll’s imagination, it hasn’t stopped pop culture figures from interpreting it as such.

In addition to the curious psychedelic metaphors, Alice’s Adventures take a very grim turn when she meets the Red Queen, a vicious tyrant who has a penchant for beheading people. No fairy tale would be complete without a villain, but there is something extra dark about the savagery of the Queen’s preferred method of murder. This is just another element that makes the sweet children’s tale metal AF.